Semiconductor devices are used in a variety of electronic applications, such as personal computers, cell phones, digital cameras, and other electronic equipment, as examples. Semiconductor devices are typically fabricated by sequentially depositing insulating or dielectric layers, conductive layers, and semiconductive layers of material over a semiconductor substrate, and patterning the various material layers using lithography to form circuit components and elements thereon.
Capacitors are elements that are used extensively in semiconductor devices for storing an electrical charge. Capacitors essentially comprise two conductive plates separated by an insulating or dielectric material. Capacitors are used in applications such as electronic filters, analog-to-digital converters, memory devices, control applications, and many other types of semiconductor device applications.
Reactive ion etch (RIE) processes are used to form electrodes of capacitors in some manufacturing processes for semiconductor devices. These RIE processes cause erosion of and damage to dielectric layers of capacitors, particularly at the dielectric layer edges, which can significantly deteriorate the reliability of capacitors.
Improved methods of manufacturing capacitors of semiconductor devices are needed in the art.
Corresponding numerals and symbols in the different figures generally refer to corresponding parts unless otherwise indicated. The figures are drawn to clearly illustrate the relevant aspects of the embodiments and are not necessarily drawn to scale.